A joint webinar on Charism, Spirituality, Mission and Ministry took place From March 15-17, 2021. The 3-day webinar was a collaboration between the Center For Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. and African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC) at Marywood University, Scranton, PA.
The 3-day virtual webinar focused on the integration of charism, spirituality, mission and ministry which provided engaging discussion on a very applicable topic. The webinar theme was chosen to allow ASEC and CARA to share insights with national conferences/associations so they can develop a better understanding of the relationship between charism, spirituality, mission and ministry for member congregations. The information also enables conferences/associations in Africa to facilitate their own trainings in-country, giving them the ability to apply their learnings in the context of their own country.
In attendance were leadership teams of the national conferences/associations of women religious in ASEC’s 10 countries of operation and Zimbabwe, alumnae of the CARA-ASEC Visiting Scholar Program and CARA/ASEC staff members. Sr. Mary Johnson of Trinity Washington University served as the primary facilitator with three secondary facilitators from Kenya and Ghana.
Many professionals were invited to speak, including CARA and ASEC staff, several participants of the Visiting Scholar Program, religious leadership in Africa and alumnae of ASEC programs. Topics included living out the vow of obedience, integral formation of women religious, effective evangelization in modern society, the role of social sciences in congregations and the integration of charism, spirituality, mission and ministry in congregations, to name a few.
Tara Lopatofsky, Ph.D., CCLS, ASEC Senior Program Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation, added,
“We plan to approach this topic from a social science perspective, sharing our practical experiences.”
In doing so, ASEC and CARA aim to identify ways in which conferences/associations in Africa can use the social sciences to enhance congregational vitality.
